The Nose

Several references to “the devil” in The Nose reveal that the characters tend to fall back on supernatural explanations for what cannot be explained rationally. This phenomenon exists across class lines in Gogol’s tale.

The first reference comes with Ivan Yakovlevich: “Ivan Yakovlevich stood there as though bereft of senses. He thought and thought—and really did not know what to think. ‘The devil knows how it happened,’ he said at last, scratching behind his ear with his hand” (204). The second reference comes from Kovalyov: “My nose, my very own nose has disappeared goodness knows where. The devil himself must have wished to play a joke on me!” (216).

Later, Kovalyov decides that a spell has been cast on him by Mrs. Podtochin, since the nose could not have been taken off by Yakovlevich.

Contrasted with these supernatural references to “the devil” is the supernatural portrayal of the Nose itself. Serenely self-assured, the nose asserts his own independent existence as a self-evident fact that could never have been otherwise, rendering all explanations moot.

Alcohol is mentioned several times to highlight the general destitute situation of the working class, but like the supernatural, is something that transcends class lines and becomes more cultural in the text.